


Strays

by l_cloudy



Series: Strays [1]
Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3787888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/l_cloudy/pseuds/l_cloudy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Renarin Kholin has a bad habit of picking up broken things and putting them back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strays

When Renarin Kholin had been four years old, his favorite toy had been a half-broken Spider Man doll he’d rescued from a dumpster. In hindsight, Adolin figured _someone_ should have taught his brother the meaning of the world _no_ after that first time – or maybe the time after that, when Renarin had brought home a tricycle missing one wheel, red paint faded, and insisted Dalinar fixed it because it looked sad. But no, their father had always been unable to deny Renarin anything, a lingering effect of the all-too-frequent trips to the pediatric wing of the hospital before Renarin even learned to walk. That, and the kid was just too cute for his own good.

So, yeah, just one glimpse of Renarin’s trembling smile was enough for even the meanest, iciest heart to melt, and that was potentially a Very Bad Thing. It wasn’t that Adolin was jealous – of his dorky little brother? _never_ – but more that, seriously, this situation simply couldn’t go on any longer.

After the tricycle debate, Renarin had moved on to animated beings. The puppy he’d got Aunt Navani to adopt from a shelter. The time he’d managed to get Elhokar, of all people, to part from his lunch to feed all the stray cats of the neighborhood. Renarin’s first school carnival, at age twelve, which had somehow ended with his bringing home a dozen goldfishes in their pretty plastic bags.

Top of the list had to be the time in ninth grade when he’d tried to set Dalinar up with his math teacher, saying that he obviously needed someone to take care of him. Which… was kind of the truth, actually, and Adolin hated how cousin Jasnah, the betrayer, had _laughed_ and told Renarin that he actually had a point, despite his weak execution. It set a dangerous precedent.

“You just wait,” he’d told Jasnah. “Someday he’s gonna bring home a stray kid and telling Dad that maybe we should adopt him.”

Less than a year later, Renarin came home late for dinner, a lanky, long-haired boy by his side.

“This is Kaladin,” he said, turning his big, pleading eyes toward Dalinar. “He needs a place to stay the night.”

From his spot at the kitchen table, Adolin let out a long sigh.


End file.
